


A (Necessary) Overreaction

by bronzemist



Series: Peapod McHanzo Week 2018 [5]
Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Mission Fic, Peapod McHanzo Week, many talon goons meet their unfortunate demises
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-24
Updated: 2018-01-24
Packaged: 2019-03-09 01:51:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,190
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13471188
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bronzemist/pseuds/bronzemist
Summary: for Day 5 ofaughtpunkandwyntera's peapod McHanzo week.A mission in Ilios comes to an abrupt end when something small and cute interrupts the battle between Overwatch and Talon...





	A (Necessary) Overreaction

**Author's Note:**

> i live y'all
> 
> day 5 arrives 15 minutes late with starbucks

Jesse wasn't exactly sure what Talon was doing in Ilios. The city was beautiful, certainly, all white walls and blue roofs overlooking the Mediterranean, but other than a thriving tourist industry, there was little to interest Talon. No real technology industry to speak of, no weapons or energy factories, no tension between omnics and humans; nothing but kitschy boutiques and seafood restaurants as far as the eye could see.

Winston had sent out their team in response to some suspicious chatter Athena had picked up on a stolen Talon comm unit. Morrison and Mercy were co-leading the team sent to investigate, along with Tracer, McCree, and Hanzo as their sniper, with D.Va as their lone tank.

They'd tracked the Talon activity to a more rundown part of the city, far away from the beaches and major tourist areas. Eventually, Jesse supposed, this area too would receive a makeover to become more tourist-friendly, but it hadn't happened yet. The gathered Talon forces had been totally unprepared for their arrival; one of Hanzo's sonic arrows had revealed their location, and his scatter arrow had torn through them shortly thereafter.

Morrison and D.Va had dived in immediately, Mercy hovering a safe distance behind them and alternating between the healing and boosting beams from her Caduceus staff. Hanzo had climbed up to a rooftop, picking off the foot soldiers and calling out the locations of the enemy. Lena and McCree, meanwhile, had gone into the many alleyways, flanking around their opponents while they were distracted by Soldier and D.Va.

Jesse rounded a corner and found himself practically nose-to-nose with a lone Talon grunt. Before he could do more than flick the safety off a flashbang, an arrow abruptly sprouted in the man's neck; he fell, gurgling, to the ground.

"Hanzo, darlin', y'know I love watching you work, but do you mind not stealing my kills?" Jesse said dryly over the comms.

"It is not my fault you are so slow," Hanzo replied primly. To add insult to injury, he shot a second Talon gunman as he rounded the corner, a split second before Jesse's flashbang landed at his feet.

"You're killing me here, darlin'."

"Maybe if you two weren't so distracted flirting with each other, Commander Dad and I wouldn't be carrying this team!" Hana teased. The sound of her meka's guns were audible beneath her speech.

"I'm not your father," grunted Morrison, with a long-suffering tone.

"Sure, Pops."

The line went dead, and Jesse chuckled as he headed off in search of more enemies. Hanzo picked off a few more before he had a chance to, but Jesse knew him well enough by now to recognize that this was more a sign of Hanzo keeping a protective eye on him rather than any doubt in his abilities.

The fight had been mostly contained to a courtyard in the center of town, Talon's forces backed into a corner. Whatever their original goal had been, they now seemed determined to simply take out as much of Overwatch as they could. Jesse didn't envy their chances.

A now-familiar roar echoed through the courtyard as Hanzo's twin dragons burst out of an alleyway. They tore through remaining Talon troops; one passed so close to Jesse that he could feel his hair stand on end from the electricity in the air.

"Aw, Hanzo got play of the game!" Hana complained over the comms in the sudden silence.

"Was that really necessary, Shimada?" Morrison demanded. "We had things under control."

There was no response from Hanzo. An inkling of concern entered Jesse's mind.

"Hanzo?" He asked. "Y'alright, darlin'?"

"I am fine," Hanzo replied after a moment, "I... apologize. I... may have overreacted."

"Ya think?" Teased Hana. She began stomping across the courtyard in her meka towards the alley the dragons had come from. "What, did they sneak up on you or something?"

Jesse chuckled to himself, holstering Peacekeeper as he stepped out into the courtyard. "Now, give the man some credit, bunny." He said.

As he followed Hana across the courtyard, Lena blinked into existence beside him. He didn't even flinch; too many years of working with her and Genji had made him practically immune to being startled.

"How'd you do, love?" She chirped, twirling her pistols in her hands.

"Pretty good, but Hana's right; Hanzo just blew me out of the water."

She laughed. "Me too! I wonder what happened?"

Hana's meka was slow enough that by the time she reached the alley, Jesse and Lena were only a few steps behind her. They heard her delighted squeal loud and clear. "Hanzo! Oh my God, where did you find it?"

Jesse and Lena exchanged befuddled looks. Jesse leaned around the meka's bright pink cockpit and saw Hanzo standing in the middle of the alleyway with a small white puppy in his arms.

Lena cooed audibly; Jesse fought down an urge to do the same.

The remains of three Talon agents were scattered about the alleyway; two obviously victims of the dragons, one with an arrow between his eyes.

There was a light blush on Hanzo's cheeks. "They were going to hurt him," he said defensively, gently petting the puppy between its ears.

"Aw, Hanzo!" Lena squealed, blinking to his side. The puppy startled a bit at her sudden appearance, but Hanzo quickly soothed it. "I've gotta take a picture of this, Emily's gonna love it!" She wrapped an arm around his shoulders, pulling him close to her as she readied her phone.

"Hey, I want some too!" Hana cried, ejecting from her meka and running forward, her own phone already in hand.

As the two women began taking selfies with a reluctant Hanzo and an extremely confused dog, Morrison and Mercy joined a laughing Jesse at the mouth of the alley.

"What the hell is going on here?" Morrison demanded.

"Apparently, Hanzo found some of these jerks threatening a dog," Jesse explained, grinning. "He took offence."

"Oh, the poor thing!" Cried Mercy, darting forward with Caduceus staff in hand.

"We are not bringing that back to the Watchpoint," growled Morrison.

Several complaints sounded from the group surrounding the puppy; the dog itself let out a pathetic whine.

"Oh, c'mon, Commander Grumpy, he can be our mascot!" Said Hana, who was texting away – probably telling the rest of Overwatch about the dog, thought Jesse, amused – and blatantly ignoring the way Morrison crossed his arms, scowl obvious despite his visor.

"No."

"Jack, at the very least I want to keep an eye on this little one overnight," said Mercy, who had taken the puppy from Hanzo and was patting it over with a clinical air. "He's quite underweight, and I think he has an injury to one of his hind legs."

Morrison wavered. Jesse stepped in.

"Jack, you know if you don't agree, she's gonna bring him anyway." He pointed out. "And Hana and Lena are gonna bug you for weeks."

"Months," corrected Hana. "You have no idea how annoying I'll be."

Morrison sighed loudly.

"Fine."

"Yay!" Hana darted over and hugged him quickly, then hugged Jesse too. "What should we name him? I'm thinking Riceball."

"That's a ridiculous name," said Morrison grumpily. It wasn't obvious, but Jesse had known the man long enough to see how he'd softened at Hana's affection.

"Oh?" Lena said, taking one last picture before tucking her phone away. "And what did you name the dogs on your farm, huh, Commander?" She blinked back to Jesse's side. He reminded himself to ask her and Hana for copies of those pictures later.

"Well, there was White Dog, and Brown Dog, and Fat Dog," said Morrison, to groans from the two women.

"We aren't calling him White Dog!"

"We should begin making our way back to the ship," Mercy interrupted, having finished her examination. "At least if we want to make it home for dinner."

She turned to leave the alley, puppy still held in her arms. But the dog immediately began struggling in her grasp, its whimpers quickly growing louder.

"Oh? What's wrong, _liebling_?" She murmured. Hanzo walked forward; as soon as he moved in front of her, the puppy calmed. Mercy glanced up, saw him, and smiled. "Oh, I see. You've already picked your person." She promptly handed the puppy back over to Hanzo.

"I – are you sure this is best?" He said, looking down at the puppy in surprise. It licked his bearded chin happily, and his expression softened.

"Yes, I am certain." Said Mercy, still smiling.

"C'mon, darlin', you saved him," Jesse said, "makes sense that he likes you."

Hanzo looked down again; the corner of his mouth pulled up in a small smile. "I suppose so." He adjusted his grip on the dog and then began following the rest of them in the direction of the dropship.

Jesse fell into step beside him, and slung his prosthetic arm over the other man's shoulders. Finally giving in to his desire to pet the puppy, he reached out with his other hand and stroked its fur. It wasn't as dirty as it could have been, for a street dog, but it still wasn't as soft as it should be. The puppy startled a bit at his first touch, but quickly calmed, eyes closing as it snuggled into Hanzo's chest.

"You ever had a dog before?" Jesse asked.

Hanzo shook his head. "No. I always wanted one, but it was not permitted." He glanced at him. "And yourself?"

"My mama had an old mutt, Rufus," Jesse told him, mind drifting back. He'd loved that dog growing up, hell, there had been plenty of times in his childhood when Rufus had been his only friend in the world. Rufus had died of old age not long before his mama passed; the twin blows had been almost too much for kid Jesse to take. "Couldn't tell you what all he was, but he was real loyal, followed me around everywhere I went."

"That sounds nice." Said Hanzo, voice distant and his own thoughts clearly a thousand miles away. Jesse let him be; he'd made his peace with his own past, but Hanzo was still working on that himself.

A few minutes passed in silence, then suddenly: "Genji is going to love him."

"Yeah, I reckon so," agreed Jesse. In his experience Genji was really more of a cat person; back when they'd been in Blackwatch he'd found stray cats in every city they went to on missions, and sometimes smuggled them back to a Watchpoint right under Reyes' nose. There were plenty of old Overwatch members with pet cats now who owed it to Genji. Still, personal preferences aside, Jesse didn't see Genji complaining about having any animals on base, regardless of species.

"This little guy's gonna end up the most spoiled dog in the world," Jesse commented with a laugh.

"I believe you are correct," Hanzo smiled. He rubbed one of the puppy's ears affectionately, expression softening further.

Jesse couldn't resist; he leaned over and kissed him on the corner of the mouth.

"What was that for?" Asked Hanzo, gazing up at him fondly.

"I love you." Jesse said simply, giving him another, longer kiss.

"I love you too." Hanzo replied, tucking himself further into his side. The dropship came into view, ramp already lowered as Hana's meka stomped aboard.

They walked onto the dropship together. Lena had already blinked her way into the cockpit, engines rumbling as she chattered her way through the pre-flight checks. Morrison went up to join her, though Lena was well beyond needing any co-pilot outside of Athena.

Jesse and Hanzo sat on one of the benches lining the ship's main bay, puppy still sleeping contentedly in Hanzo's arms. Mercy drifted over with some ration packets and a plastic bowl.

"Give him half of one of these when he wakes up, but no more," she instructed firmly, "if he gorges he'll make himself sick, and Jack will make you two clean it up."

"I hear ya, doc." Said Jesse easily. "I'll keep this softy from giving in to the puppy eyes."

"If anyone is going to be giving in to puppy eyes, it is you, Jesse McCree," Hanzo replied, smile taking the bite out of his words. "We both know I am going to be the strict parent here."

"Keep telling yourself that, darlin'." Privately, Jesse admitted that Hanzo was probably right - after all, the archer could put rocks to shame with how rigid his self-control was. But the acknowledgment of them being in this together, looking after this puppy together, had a warm feeling curling in his chest.

He placed his hat on the tabletop beside the bowl and leaned over, resting his head on Hanzo's shoulder. The adrenaline was finally wearing off, tiredness seeping in. He yawned.

"Go to sleep, Jesse. I will wake you before we land."

"Thanks, Han." Jesse yawned again, eyes sliding shut. Sleep claimed him quickly.

He dreamed of himself and the man he loved, and their dog. A scene of domestic bliss that he had always thought would only ever be a dream for him... and that was now a reality.

**Author's Note:**

> i said i was gonna finish this week and by god i'm gonna finish it
> 
> real talk though i started back at university a couple weeks ago and this being my final semester of my final year promptly became super stressed out and unable to write, but i'm doing better now and i'm still planning to finish this week
> 
> as always you can find me on tumblr at [bronzemist](http://bronzemist.tumblr.com/) if you want to talk about mchanzo or overwatch stuff in general


End file.
